A pathbreaking device will do away with invasive tests and long waits
at clinics in diagnosing all kinds of cancers. In a mere 20 minutes,
the device could also tell specialists which drug to prescribe for the
cancer.
The world's first tumour profiler is being developed by QuantuMDx, in
the universities of Newcastle and Sheffield. It will be used by the
National Health Service of the UK within three years.
Company
representatives said the device can potentially prolong the lives of the
12 million newly diagnosed cancer victims worldwide.
It will help surgeons remove most, if not all of the tumour, and allow cancer specialists to prescribe the correct treatment.
The
device is relying on advanced nanotechnology, analysing microscopic
amounts of tissue to work out the type of cancer, its genetic make-up
and how far it has developed, the
Daily Mail reports.
Sir
John Burn, professor at the Newcastle University and medical director
of QuantuMDx, says: "We have a world leading position to deliver complex
DNA tumour testing to the routine pathology lab or even to the
operating theatre."
"A low-cost device requiring no technical
expertise will extract, amplify and analyse tumour DNA to make sure the
patient gets the right treatment first time and without delay," he adds.
QuantuMDx
chief executive Elaine Warburton said: "Currently tumour samples are
sent away to a centralised sequencing laboratory, which can take several
weeks to turnaround results, usually at a very high price which is not
routinely affordable to many economies."
"As far as we are aware,
QuantuMDx's current underlying technologies, which can break up a sample
and extract the DNA in under five minutes, represents a first in the
world for complex molecular diagnostics," Warburton said.
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